The World’s Richest Poker Tour Announces Biggest Season Yet - posted 06.16.09
John Duthie, Chief Executive of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour (EPT), today announced the first half of the schedule for EPT Season Six. The European Poker Tour is now the world’s richest poker tour in terms of both players and prize pools and is sponsored by PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site with over 23 million registered players worldwide.
The new EPT season includes many events which have made the past five seasons such a triumph with world record breaking fields and prize pools across Europe.” said Duthie. “We have set very high standards and we aim to improve on this still further in Season Six - with new additions to the schedule as well as a richer mix of games and buy-ins to cater for more players.”
Last year’s PokerStars EPT season proved a massive success and overtook the WPT in terms of amount of players and prize pools. EPT Season Five generated a total prize pool of almost €55 million (approx $77 million USD) with 7,980 players from 97 countries of which 3,077 were PokerStars players. The four richest prize pools available in poker tournaments outside the United States last year occurred during the fifth season of the PokerStars EPT at: the PCA ($12.7M USD); Monte Carlo ($12.3M USD); San Remo ($7.5M USD); and Barcelona (7M USD).
The EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final generated the biggest ever prize pool in Europe at more than €9.3 million. The Grand Final winner, newly-signed Team PokerStars Pro Netherlands member Pieter de Korver, a 26-year-old poker pro from Leeuwarden, Holland, bested a record field of 935 players to take the first prize of €2.3 million ($3.2 million USD).
“This year’s EPT will be bigger and better than ever, kicking off in August in one of our new scheduled destinations – magnificent Moscow in Russia. Overall, the tour will visit an unprecedented thirteen countries* - an increase of four events on top of last season. As well as Russia, the tour will include new stops in Portugal this November and other destinations to be announced shortly.” said Duthie
The PokerStars EPT Season Six looks set to continue building upon the successes of the previous five seasons, attracting even more players and even larger prize pools. There will be more ‘Festival of Poker’ style stops on the tour, beginning in London this October with “The Pokerstars.com EPT London Festival at the Hilton Metropole Hotel” which will feature significant Pot-Limit Omaha and 8-Game events, as well as the return of the popular High Roller event. The EPT London Main Event will likely be the richest tournament ever in the United Kingdom.
Online satellites for the PokerStars EPT Moscow, Season Six start today, Monday, 15 June, 2009 on PokerStars with buy-ins from as little as $2.22. Players who qualify on PokerStars don’t just win their seat; they also win hotel accommodation (or cash equivalent) and spending money as part of their prize package. The EPT invites players from around the world to participate in this exciting event in Russia’s historic and storied capital.
European Poker Tour returns for Season 6 this August! – posted 6.15.09
The biggest live poker tournament series in Europe is back for Season 6 this August, with new destinations added to the tour - including Moscow and Portugal. This is the event that see’s scores of PokerStars qualifiers sit down to play against the biggest names in the game, including Team PokerStars Pros like Daniel Negreanu, to play for multi-million dollar prize pools in the most vibrant and exciting cities in Europe and beyond.
The record-breaking Season 5 proved to be the best yet - with eleven events, 7,768 players and a total prize pool of over $60,000,000. Major winners included Poorya Nazari, who walked away with $3,000,000 for taking down the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, and Pieter de Korver, the winner of the Monte Carlo Grand Final - a victory that was good for a payday of $3,024,167! Don’t miss out on your chance to be the next big winner in Season 6.
Pieter de Korver wins fifth EPT Grand Final - posted 4.5.09
The 5th season of the EPT has come to an end in Monte Carlo and produced the second Dutch Grand Final champion in five seasons. Pieter de Korver, 26, from Leeuwarden, Holland, a member of Team PokerStars Pro Netherlands, outlasted a record field of 935 players to snag the €2.3 million first prize at the €10,600 EPT Monte Carlo main event. The total prize pool was a staggering €9.35 million making it the richest poker tournament ever held outside Las Vegas. The first ever EPT Grand Final was won by Dutchman Rob Hollink.
De Korver only turned pro two years ago and last year triumphed in a PokerStars-sponsored TV show called 'Poker Kampioen Van Nederland' against some 20,000 competitors. He staged a remarkable comeback during the nine-hour final table - at one stage he had just two big blinds but then won a series of showdowns to take the chip lead.
Norwegian pro Dag Martin Mikkelsen looked set to take the EPT Grand Final title after amassing more than half the chips but he fell away just as dramatically as De Korver came back - and ended up finishing fourth. Russian player Mikhail Tulchinskiy was eliminated in third place before PokerStars qualifier Matthew Woodward was dominated in a heads-up battle lasting a little over an hour.
Scores of stars competed in the event, held from April 28 to May 3 at the Monte Carlo Bay Resort, including nearly the entire Team PokerStars Pro team such as poker legend Daniel Negreanu, current world champion Peter Eastgate and former world champions Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer and Chris Moneymaker as well as rappers Nelly and Bruno "Kool Shen" Lopes, rugby star Sebastien Chabal, footballer Tomas Brolin and tennis legend Boris Becker. Celebrated poker pros such as Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Tony G, Liz Lieu and Andy Black also took part. A total of 157 PokerStars players won their seats online for the prestigious event which attracted entrants from a record 57 countries.
Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso won the inaugural €25,000 Monte Carlo high roller tournament after beating fellow American Randy Dorfman heads-up to take the €720,000 first prize. Tony G came third and donated a substantial part of his winnings to charity. A total of 79 players entered the event.
Stars out in force for PokerStars "Ante Up for Africa" at EPT Grand Final - posted 28.4.09
The first ever Ante Up For Africa (AUFA) in Europe kicked off last night on the eve of the European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo.
The star-studded event, which raised a total of €160,000 for the humanitarian mission in crisis-torn Darfur, featured a host of international sports and entertainment stars including rapper Nelly, French rapper Bruno "Kool Shen" Lopes, F1 racing driver Nico Rosberg, Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina, French rugby star Sebastian Chabal and England's Mike Tindall as well as UK TV presenter Kirsty Gallacher, , US R’n’B Star Christina Milian, singer songwriter The Dream, James Kyson Lee from "Heroes" and Jason Lewis from "Sex in the City".
Also playing in the €4,000 event were Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Victor Ramdin, Joe Hachem, Peter Eastgate, Dario Minieri, Vanessa Rousso and Greg Raymer.
French rugby star Sebastian Chabal, French sports commentator Patrick Chene, professional poker player Tony G and ex-England footballer Teddy Sheringham all made the final table alongside Team PokerStars Pros Luca Pagano, Dario Minieri, John Duthie, Daniel Negreanu and Isabelle Mercier.
The entire €160,000 prize pool from the tournament is being donated to Ante Up For Africa, with PokerStars donating a further €100,000. PokerStars will be awarding the winner of the tournament with a special prize package to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas in January 2010.
More than 400,000 people have died and more than four million have lost their homes in Darfur since the conflict began. To date, Ante Up For Africa has raised closed $2 million for the cause.
Battleship storms ahead at EPT Grand Final - posted 28.4.09
Battleship took off on Day 1a of the EPT Grand Final with a series of great promotions. Six French players won a trip to Monte Carlo to play ElkY simultaneously in the Kill ElkY promotion. "rice64" was the only player to win his match and gets a seat in the main event for his efforts.
Later in the day, in the Battle Boris promotion, German qualifiers were faced with the task of winning four consecutive heads-up Battleship matches - against tennis legend Boris Becker and three German Team Pros of their choice. "xXGlynn" was the only player to win all his matches - after beating Boris, Sandra Naujoks, Anton Allemann and Johanes Steindl. His reward was $40,000 cash and and a seat in the main event seat.
The $530 eight-player tournament kicked off with Mike "timex" McDonald ousted in the first round, but Shaun Deeb through to Round 2 - and still in the running for the $2,500 first prize.
Battleship players compete online while also sitting face-to-face. The format was first pioneered at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in 2006 and has been a popular fixture at both the PCA and the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final ever since.
Battleship continues with loads more exciting events providing non-stop action 15 hours a day. As well as the now-familiar 64-player 'main event” Battleship match, the schedule includes 32, 16 and eight-player tournaments as well. There will also be a range of buy-ins - from $200 to $5,000 – and the addition of PLO and PLO/PLH events for the first time.
Players will also have plenty of opportunities to come along to the Battleship area at other times to play individual heads-up matches against their friends.
